Jonathan Haidt — The Psychology of Self-Righteousness

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2017

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“When it comes to moral judgments, we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” The surprising psychology behind morality is at the heart of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s research. He explains “liberal” and “conservative” not narrowly or necessarily as political affiliations, but as personality types — ways of moving through the world. His self-described “conservative-hating, religion-hating, secular liberal instincts” have been challenged by his own studies.

Transcript

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0:41.7	academic research and civil dialogue on the deepest, most perplexing questions facing humankind.
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0:54.2	The Templeton Foundation. Stay curious.
0:56.8	It's as though these giant electromagnets got turned on in the 60s,
1:02.6	and they've been cranking up ever since, and anything that has the vaguest left-right
1:06.0	charge gets pulled to one side, everything gets purified.
1:08.4	Psychologically, what we find empirically, is that people who identify as conservative
1:14.9	tend to like order and predictability, whereas people who identify as liberal,
1:20.2	they like variety and diversity. I have one study where we have dots moving around on the screen.
1:24.4	Conservatives like the images where the dots are moving around more and
1:27.9	locks step with each other. Liberals like it when it's all chaotic and random.
1:32.0	The surprising psychology behind morality. This is at the heart of social psychologist
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